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Topic: Video File Information Entry Needs Improvement

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Video file Information entry needs Improvement

I Just ripped close to 500 Vob music videos to import into my VDJ library.
I don't have to do the covers in VDJ because as I was ripping I made a jpg image and applied a jpg to eash file name.

Now I have to assign within VDJ;

1. Genre
2. Album Name
3. (MV) = Music Video on Title (Because the Video icon is to close in color to Karaoke)
4. Year
5. And I'm Not Finished, I've got another 30 or so to rip.
6. This means that I have to enter information to the (4) fields of each file one at a time, and by the time I'm finished I would have made 2000 entries to complete the 500 file in VDJ.

What i am experiencing is that VDJ is NOT Batch Friendly when it comes to editing or just entering new media info into the library, and I don't know how to work around this one because it's Video files. (Is there a video Tag program?)

With MP3 there is a workaround by using iTunes then the information is available with VDJ.

Why can't you just highlight an album files in the browser, right click and do a globle edit to Genre, Album, Year.

You'll be able with just (4) entries process one album with 30 files, that would save 116 separate entries ,just by having this one feature implemented.

Am I missing something, or is there another way????

Appreciate some input on this problem.

Thank you

Joey.....
 
Posted Thu 22 Oct 09 @ 10:44 pm
 
if you are planning on spending time on getting a library organized I would suggest encoding them all to MP4/h.264 video format. After encoding them you can edit tags like an MP3 in tagging software like Tag&Rename. The easiest way to import all the info into the tag would be naming the file itself with tag info to start out with. For example:

artist - title (version) (bpm).mp4

in Tag&Rename you can have it get tag info from filename in batches. So basically in a few mouse clicks all your files could be tagged and be ready to imported into VDJ with all the info in the right places.

Keep in mind there is NO easy way to do this... you have to put in the work somewhere....

I have named all my 5000+ video files at least once and sometimes had to rename them because of new ways I am changing things...
the ultimate goal to have it organized for your use.

Hope that helps.
 
Hi low-fat-al

I like your name, very clever ****

Well I do appreciate your reply, and yes your suggestion is another tedious round about way of over coming the built in oversight of a self contain player with it's own database.

Need I say in todays computer age where any database would have the elementry find & replace or globle edit functions, this is clearly not the case in VDJ, Claiming the advantages of having a dedicated database in the one hand and not having the Rudimentary Functionalitys in the other.

I don't think it's to much to ask for, all it would take is ONE improvement, to be able to Tag/highlight files and change a field info in the file information menu.

I have other less expensive and totally free software that has this capabilaty, I paid full freight for VDJ, Can you please deliver this ONE improvement?

Thank You

Joey....
 
JoeyKJ wrote :
I don't think it's to much to ask for, all it would take is ONE improvement, to be able to Tag/highlight files and change a field info in the file information menu.

I have other less expensive and totally free software that has this capabilaty, I paid full freight for VDJ, Can you please deliver this ONE improvement?


Sometimes I wonder if VDJ/Atomix is not hurting itself by not catering to the PROFESSIONAL DJ..

lets be honest.. the biggest update to the software (besides the mapping) was "Netsearch"

sooo... long story short..
If your a Home DJ and just like playing songs from youtube... life is so much easier with VDJ..
BUT if your a professional DJ with a large LEGAL library, your life hasnt been improved one bit..

just sayin..
 
Hi hippydog

I see your point when it comes to prioritizing improvements is concern by the results, I've seen time and time again many post talking about the same DATABASE ISSUES and nothing gets done.

Just the run-of-the-mill Workarounds that make your head spin; well I'm all dizzied out.

Spending so much time, money and effort buying other software programs and spending the additional time and effort to learn them, just to be able to import file information into a $300.00 Dollar program can dampen the appeal.

The heart of any DJ or KJ program is in the access and import of track information Period.

That is at the root of a well organized professional tool, and there is always the need for maintenance because music is always evolving with time and venue, so designing tools within the program to make this task easier for your customers is paramount to your products success, and the better the appeal to attract new customers and keep the ones you have happy.

So I'm Asking to PLEASE give this issue consideration for improvement and implementation,

Thank You

Joey.....
 
hippydog wrote :

Sometimes I wonder if VDJ/Atomix is not hurting itself by not catering to the PROFESSIONAL DJ..
lets be honest.. the biggest update to the software (besides the mapping) was "Netsearch"


I'm sure I'll annoy some of my VDJ peeps but you are SPOT ON with those comments. I would not use NETSEARCH on a bet. I spend a damn fortune with PromoOnly for LEGAL music & video and the last thing I need is to load anything where I don't know the source nor quality. Not to mention my VDJ - Dedicated computers do NOT connect to the Internet, EVER.

That being said one only needs to spend a little time in the forum and you can see there are a TONS of fraternity/private house party type DJ's that will play for all the beer they can drink. I'm sure VDJ cooperate did studies for their "target audience" before the last release and they know what they are doing. I can't tell you how many times I've read users say they "Love Netsearch".

So my guess is they are trying to split the difference, controller support was improved (Which I don't use) and they added the bells and whistles for those mentioned above. Probably a very smart business decision.

If Version 7.0 offers a direct connection to E-bay for "Cheap-Equipment-Search" then I'll shop around for something a little more professional but right now I'm good with VDJ.
 
hippydog wrote :

Sometimes I wonder if VDJ/Atomix is not hurting itself by not catering to the PROFESSIONAL DJ..

lets be honest.. the biggest update to the software (besides the mapping) was "Netsearch"




well said...

to add to this direction.

you got to pay to play!
if you can't see yourself spending time on the required maintenance on your library and want a one button fix then you need not be DJ-ing professionally. In this current day and age of the instant gratification mentality, I see a lot of frustration from new DJ's who have NEVER set up non-powered speakers, a light show, huge amp rack, turntables, 19"mixer, and lugging in crates and crates of records for a simple wedding only paying $400.... going back some years. Even in the club spinning DJ (which I was both mobile and club) lugging your record crates to each gig... AND spending countless hours in records stores hunting for those tracks that you had to MANUALLY BPM and organize in your crate for YOU to easily find... and to memorize the intro, outros, breaks and WHEN they happen in the song...

awww technology... got us all spoiled in one way or another.


I being a veteran DJ going back over 20 years can appreciate the simplicity of preparing for my nights AT HOME and not driving from record store to record store all day long.... and being able to organize them with cue points, loops, effects, whatever... to be pulled up with little physical effort.

so... to get back on point with this rant..

In order for you to have a well organized library you HAVE to put in the time to MANUALLY name the tracks, tag, etc... I layed out a method which works for me and others as well I am sure. Although I don't use VDJ as my main DJ software right now I can re-assure you that having all the TAG info written to the files themselves will save you an enormous amount of time if you choose to switch to other softwares, rebuild your current system, restore from a crash and losing your VDJ database, etc. I am grateful that the develpment team FINALLY after all the input I said for years now about implement the ability to read MP4 tags... This helps A LOT!! I use Serato currently for my club gigs and I loved the ability to write tags like mp3's and import into to serato and POOF!! All my tags are present. NOW you can do that with VDJ... which means in the future if I choose to make VDJ my main software of chose for club gigs I would have NO problem importing all my tracks with BPM's, title, mix, etc... into it. I do use VDJ for some mobile applications and it works great along side my current tagging I have in place.

VDJ should have sole responsibility to write tag info on your video files. I am suggesting the real solution which would be to do this outside of VDJ. You complain you spent $300 for software that doesn't have this one-click-all-is-easy-now-for-me feature then... well... your a spoiled brat.

remember...

you have to PAY to PLAY!!
 
Sir you have the wrong impression here, so stop spitting till you Understand??

I have to go to a gig now

Joey....
 
spitting?

hmmm.. alrighty then.


BTW...

in Tag&Rename you can BATCH tag files like you originally mentioned. For example... you can put the same album tag in several video files at once.. this is what you asked about.

My whole point was to use external sources to get this done and done right. You won't regret it.
 
low-fat-al wrote :


well said...

to add to this direction.

I've been DJing for 15 years now (mainly mobile)..
I was agreeing with your post until you said

Quote :
In order for you to have a well organized library you HAVE to put in the time to MANUALLY name the tracks, tag, etc...

ummm. what? I'm thinking your not following my direction LOL, your going the opposite way.

The Technology is supposed to HELP you do things, NOT make things harder..

example 1: many of us originally ripped our videos as .vob or .mpeg
All that tag information is in VDJ.. Even if I re-ripped or converted all my videos to .mp4,
Tag & Rename cant do much to help me.. (enless I decide to retype all the information AGAIN!!) ..

example 2: tag & rename is a great program, I use it myself.. but its not integrated with VDJ, so if a make one change in the tag, I still need to make that change in VDJ (and vice versa)

example 3: batch tagging.. this is where Tag & rename excells.. problem is.. you risk losing your cue and adjusted BPM info in VDJ..


My whole point is.. using external sources NEVER works 100% and its not always done right.. The PRO software you purchase should be able to do it.
 
djrenee wrote :
So my guess is they are trying to split the difference, controller support was improved (Which I don't use) and they added the bells and whistles for those mentioned above. Probably a very smart business decision.

I'll agree that it was a smart 'short term' business decision..
long term? not so much ;-)

The simple fact is, most DJ's who are either just starting out, or just starting to go digital (from LP or CD)
usually make their software purchase based primarily on what they see the PRO'S using..
(I think most people can get what I'm infering might happen in the future.. if its not already happening)
 
Lots of Pro use our software. Look here and see for yourself...
 
hippydog wrote :

I was agreeing with your post until you said

Quote :
In order for you to have a well organized library you HAVE to put in the time to MANUALLY name the tracks, tag, etc...

ummm. what? I'm thinking your not following my direction LOL, your going the opposite way.

The Technology is supposed to HELP you do things, NOT make things harder..


If you do not remember me referring earlier to lugging crates of records and manually organizing the records with BPM's and in certain crates... well.. that was before digital DJ-ing.. so... yeah technology does HELP!! I am all for that!


hippydog wrote :

example 1: many of us originally ripped our videos as .vob or .mpeg
All that tag information is in VDJ.. Even if I re-ripped or converted all my videos to .mp4,
Tag & Rename cant do much to help me.. (enless I decide to retype all the information AGAIN!!) ..


I have ripped many videos from DVD's and rename the actual ripped file with the correct info ONCE... then encode to MP4 and import into Tag&Rename... then POOF!! all is good... and the info STAYS with the file NO matter what machine you put it on with or without the VDJ database... the whole point is to have all the correct info like artist, title, version, bpm, etc. in the file name so you can get tags from file names in Tag&Rename


hippydog wrote :

example 2: tag & rename is a great program, I use it myself.. but its not integrated with VDJ, so if a make one change in the tag, I still need to make that change in VDJ (and vice versa)


if you change or update your tag info in Tag&Rename... you simply rescan your tag data in VDJ & even Serato has the same functionality. So... actually unless you knew that already.. you are doing more work than you need to.


hippydog wrote :

example 3: batch tagging.. this is where Tag & rename excells.. problem is.. you risk losing your cue and adjusted BPM info in VDJ..


That is the unfortunate part of using a dedicated database that has to be on the root of the drive you use with VDJ. But cue points only take less than a minute to re-assign.. and BPM should have been correct in the original tag anyways.


hippydog wrote :

My whole point is.. using external sources NEVER works 100% and its not always done right.. The PRO software you purchase should be able to do it.


The PRO software you purchased never claimed to have all the tagging functionality of a dedicated PRO tagging software... it does as advertised... allows you the ability to play & manipulate your videos.


My whole library can be imported into Serato and VDJ and all my info pops right up... I would rather that info be available first before it even is imported into my DJ software... who knows... a new bad ass DJ software/hardware solution may be available and you have to start all over again because you edited all your tags only the VDJ database... just food for thought. If you write the info on the actual file you using software like Tag&Rename then you have NO worries surrounding any of that. Plus.. if you have a corrupt database that can't be recovered then you wouldn't have to re-do anything but cue points. which is so minor as compared to editing all your thousands of files with correct BPM, artist, title, version, etc....





 

Since I almost always Write all song info by myself because not all info is on internet when I rip a CD or a compiled CD, then when I rip all my DVDs I manually put Artist-title (version).VOB to all my video files. Then to have all my covers good, also enter all info in the video information in VirtualDJ Pro... I do it one at a time, so I do every 10 songs and I got now 1TB well tagged. So maybe it would be good to download "somewhere" from internet all the info for each song, but guess what, SOMEBODY has to capture it first, and it wouldn't be a company, but users who contribute so other haven't to type it when ripped a CD.

I either will spend time to put my VOB files into MP4... better use that time to tag all videos at the first time. I learn since long ago, that daily small steps wil do a LONG way after a month or a year.

Maybe in the future you will have this tagging in VirtualDJ (who knows), VOB files (and other video formats too) has not any tagging on it's definition, but mp4 does. As Low-Fat-Al saids, you got it now using another tools.
 
As for Pro DJs... Well I don't know what to say here, Did you use Timecode Vinyls?, maybe some MIDI Controller like CDJ-400 or willing to use CDJ-2000? (guess who could let you use it as midi now?), ok maybe you like to use your XYZ branded sound card that you are confident to use? If you aren't using any of this maybe I understand why you think VirtualDJ Pro 6.0.2 has no Pro improvement for you, or in your point of view.

You can use any sound card in the market today as long as the PC could use it, the VirtualDJ also can. Also almost all MIDI devices could be use with VirtualDJ, also VirtualDJ support more variety of audio and video files + the ability to use karaoke too. You can use one ore two or more MIDI devices or also one or 2 or 3 VirtualDJ instances to have 2, or 4 or 6 or whatever number of decks your system let you work with...

You can use almost all VST effects available to work with VirtualDJ and also let record and use samples, infinity CUE points to make live your own remix of any song... The skins, that you can built your own skin, as simple or complete as you may want, or assign key shortcuts to one key or program one key as many functions... Did you know that you could map any key with "holding" or "cycle" and remap a key or all your keyboard or your midi consoles to complete all functions that you like to use while you play in a gig? (one key could do many functions if you select to do it in that way)

VirtualDJ is versatility and also an open program that let you use it in almost any way you want. It is always a better way and things to do, so it is changing all the time to be better and better and improving in this or that... and of course, sometimes need extra to keep it working as you want. But it is always in mind to give you a powerful tool to do your passion, your work as a DJ. If you are patient enough you could enjoy what you ask, because VirtualDJ Dev Team is always listening, but here are many voices to listen too. So maybe it took more time that you are willing to wait, but at the end will have better, stronger and powerful DJ software.

;-)
 
low-fat-al wrote :
I have ripped many videos from DVD's and rename the actual ripped file with the correct info ONCE... then encode to MP4 and import into Tag&Rename... then POOF!! all is good...


Your post assumes everybody is using .mp4
some dont and some can't ..

if a person sticks with the original format (.vob or .mpeg) then the rest becomes meaningless..

in the mean time I still need to work and that means putting my tag information in VDJ..


here's a simple solution..
Atomix should purchase Tag & Rename, and make it so its 100% compatible with VDJ.. (including the .xml database)

win-win for everyone!

oh! and throw in an .mp4 ripper/encoder (with simple HQ settings preset for most DJ's) and you would have tons of happy people..

:-)
 


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